Inside one of the Uchiha clan secret meetings, a group from the Uchiha clan which mainly consisted of the upper echelons of the Hawk faction were sitting together discussing their recent activities.
"…Did the research or the experiments yield any results?" an old man asked as he looked toward the figure seated at the front.
"No, according to the scrolls left behind by our ancestors, the only way to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan is through experiencing a wave of emotions so intense that even the mind itself cannot properly process it." The old man with gray hair seated at the front was none other than Uchiha Senjiro.
"However, even under extremely intense conditions, the furthest anyone has ever reached is the three-tomoe Sharingan. It appears that there is still an invisible factor that we have yet to identify." He continued before glancing at the other members present in the meeting.
"But if we start a coup d'état without the Mangekyō Sharingan, our chances of survival are nearly nonexistent. Not to mention that with that coward Fugaku as the clan head, our manpower is not even a third of the clan's actual force." Uchiha Iruma, the son of Senjiro, said with disdain.
"Since the experiment was a failure, we can't continue pursuing it recklessly lest we end up like the Senju clan. Instead of trying to forcibly create a new Mangekyō, we should focus on the other option we discussed before." Senjiro said as silence swept over the meeting.
"As for the drawbacks of using that forbidden jutsu, I already have someone trustworthy working on it in the background. It won't be long before we reclaim what rightfully belongs to us." Senjiro spoke with visible anger shown across his wrinkled face before finally bringing the meeting to a close.
Whilst walking back toward his house, Senjiro noticed a kid in a black kimono bearing the clan's crest on his back walk past him with a bouquet of tulips in his hands. 'This kid…' Senjiro fell into thought as he observed the boy's departing figure.
The kid quietly made his way toward Konoha's cemetery and stopped in front of two graves. He gently laid the flowers down before pulling out a forehead protector engraved with Konoha's symbol.
He wore it on his forehead and slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them once again, a pair of two-tomoe Sharingan spun silently within them.
"Father, Mother… I am sorry I haven't been visiting as much lately, but I have finally become a shinobi… this is only the first step. I will definitely make sure to slaughter all of those bastards involved in that incident."
On that day, Uchiha Ren stood before his parents' graves for a very long time before finally leaving. In just a single day, he had lost everything he held dear and gained those two cursed eyes.
…..
Yogi stood quietly in the middle of Training Ground Nineteen with his hands resting inside his pockets.
The forest around him remained completely silent until the sound of a lightning-coated kunai cutting through the air echoed through the clearing.
Yogi sidestepped the incoming kunai and immediately flickered toward the direction it had been thrown from. Within seconds, he had already located two of his three students.
Yogi stopped at a distance and discreetly began sensing the surroundings for the missing person, yet before he could expand his range any further, Inumaki launched several shuriken toward him while Hyori rushed forward to engage him in close combat. Hyori's mastery over the Gentle Fist had improved drastically due to the many training sessions she had undergone under Yogi, but she was still far from being able to pressure a jōnin on her own. Yoshimaru and Inumaki quickly joined the attack as well, causing Yogi to finally give the fight a little more attention.
'Let's draw you out from the shadows and show me how much you have improved.'
Yogi pressed Hyori against a nearby tree with one hand before driving a fist into her stomach and kicking Inumaki several meters away.
Just as it looked like Hyori and Inumaki were barely hanging on, a sword slashed through thin air from behind, narrowly missing Yogi as he ducked to avoid the blow. Yogi's eyes gleamed slightly as he noticed the ground beneath him beginning to sink downward, while at the same time sensing another chakra signature rapidly approaching from behind him. He turned around only to see a lightning-coated kunai flying directly toward him. In a rush, he quickly formed two hand seals and exhaled a gust of wind from his mouth, diverting the course of the incoming weapon.
Before Yogi could fully recover from the previous attack, Hyori rushed toward him once again while Shinra shifted his stance, his sword ready to strike.
Yogi smiled lightly as he thought, 'Their teamwork has improved tremendously due to the daily team spars, but there is still a lot more they could improve on.'
Just as Shinra's sword was about to cut through him, Yogi disappeared into a cloud of smoke, causing the blade to slice through empty air once again.
Standing several meters away from the battlefield, Yogi appeared on top of a tree branch with a kunai held against the back of the real Shinra's neck.
"Do you know where you went wrong?" Yogi asked as he lightly traced the kunai across Shinra's back.
"Was it during the last attack when I threw that lightning kunai?" Shinra asked calmly while continuing to stare forward.
Yogi smirked slightly. "Close enough. It was actually the very first lightning kunai you threw. After that, you suppressed your chakra and went into hiding, but I had already memorized your chakra signature before Hyori and Inumaki attempted to distract me. Then, when the opportunity presented itself, I flickered away and left behind a shadow clone to pressure Hyori and Inumaki into forcing your clone to reveal itself, while the real me slowly circled behind you."
Shinra quietly accepted the explanation before smiling faintly as he looked toward the treeline.
"Sensei, you're wrong about one thing. I haven't lost yet… at worst, it's a draw."
Yogi frowned slightly as he noticed Shinra forming a single-handed seal.
"Release."
Sensing danger, Yogi immediately flickered away from the tree branch.
The next moment, dozens of paper seals hidden beneath the bark of the tree began glowing simultaneously before exploding all at once.
The entire tree erupted violently, flames and splintered wood scattering across the clearing.
Yogi landed several meters away from the explosion before glancing back toward the burning tree with slightly widened eyes.
"…Now THAT was finally worthy of a shinobi."
Hearing footsteps approach from the other side, Yogi noticed Shinra walking toward him without a hint of panic on his face.
"Your chakra reserves finally grew enough to create your second clone?"
Shinra nodded his head lightly. "I thought I had you this time."
"You almost did," Yogi replied with a smile. "It was a brilliant plan. Did you make these explosion tags yourself?"
"Not all of them. Although I have studied under Kurosawa-sensei for almost half a year now, my success rate still isn't as high as an intermediate seal expert." Shinra sighed as he recalled all the late nights he had invested into studying fuinjutsu.
"Alright then, I guess with your current team strength you should be ready. Let's regroup with the others." Yogi flickered toward Hyori and Inumaki and was followed closely by Shinra.
"Listen carefully. Seeing your teamwork and your individual improvement, I have decided that it is finally time for Team Eight to start undertaking C-rank missions." Yogi said as he observed the ever-stoic expressions of his students.
Among the three students, only one of them seemed concerned, and surprisingly, it was none other than Kamikaze Shinra.